LANDO NORRIS believes Max Verstappen will fight him to the very end despite taking a major stride towards knocking the Dutchman off his world championship perch over the weekend.

Norris extended his lead at the summit of the standings to 24 points over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri following a dominant victory at Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Verstappen fought back from a pit-lane start to claim a brilliant third in Interlagos, and restrict the title damage to Norris to 10 points. 

He was supposed to start from 16th position after a frustrating qualifying session, but his team made sweeping changes to his car, including a new engine. The team’s move eventually paid off.

“To be in the podium from the pit lane, I didn’t expect that at all. Even less after a puncture at the start,” said Verstappen, who won last year’s race starting from 17th.

However, he now trails the British driver by 49 points with just 83 points available across the concluding three rounds.

But Norris insisted: “I’m sure Max is going to be a threat in terms of races, and you never know with the championship. So, it’s pointless trying to guess and come up with these things.

“With how quick he was, he would have won if he started higher up. But that’s racing. Not everyone puts it together, and it’s easy to make mistakes in the world that we live in.

“Max will be a threat because he always is. He’s always there, he’s always fighting, and I’m sure he’ll fight to the end. I look forward to it.”

Verstappen appeared down and out in the title race when he was cast 104 points adrift following the Dutch Grand Prix on the final day of August.

However, the Red Bull man, bidding to win five world titles in a row, hauled himself back into the contest with a number of impressive drives in a car, which for most of the season, has been inferior to Norris’s McLaren.

But he suffered a shock Q1 exit in qualifying in Sao Paulo, and immediately wrote off his title chances. And even after driving from the back to third place, Verstappen believes he will not be able to catch Norris as the mammoth 24-round season reaches its climax.

Verstappen said: “We didn’t lose the championship here. We lost the championship from the first race of the season until Zandvoort [on August 31].

“We had a lot of weekends where we simply were not quick enough. Then, of course, there is a big gap to the front. We had good moments where you get some points back, but not enough, and that’s how the season goes.”

Norris will look to further extend his advantage on the Las Vegas Strip on November 22 before the concluding rubbers in Qatar (November 30) and the season finale in Abu Dhabi a week later.

The driver said he is not confident he and McLaren will compete for a win in the United States.

“It was our worst race last year. I can’t say I am looking forward to it,” Norris said.

The 25-year-old Englishman dedicated his victory in Brazil to Indianapolis 500 winner and Brazilian icon Gil de Ferran, who died in 2023.

“This one was for Gil, one of my mentors … This one was for him. I’m sure he’d be very proud of it all,” Norris said. “I was thinking of that while driving. A perfect weekend.”